World of Remnant
by NeppyTheDork
Summary: The story of a young boy who mysteriously appeared on the World Of Remnant with no memory. Who are his friends and who are his allies? What will his role be in this strange place? Can he survive?
1. Chapter 1: Where Am I?

The first I felt was my head. It was pounding. In fact, it hurt so much I was tempted to just pass out. What had happened? Why did it hurt so much? I groaned and gently rubbed it, flinching as light pain shot through my already injured skull. Whatever had hit me, it had been strong.

Wait, where the hell was I?

I slowly opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. I was laying on the ground, surrounded by an endless amount of trees with red leaves. I noticed that the leaves also covered the floor, every single bit of it. The entire thing was…

"Beautiful." I murmured, my voice sore and heavy. I frowned and forced a few coughs, then licked my dry lips. I just now felt it but I was thirsty, really, really thirsty. How long had I been out here? I don't remember where I heard it exactly, but I knew what dehydration was and what a serious problem it was. I had no idea what had happened, or even where I was, but I needed to find water.

I slowly stood up, extra careful with my aching body, and looked around again. The sun was high in the sky, but the weather was cool and the trees gave me excellent shade. Judging by the position of the sun, if I turned left and walked there I'd be going west, so if I want to get back here I'll just have to turn east. Now I wouldn't get lost from my original position…or was I already lost? Why would I be here anyway? What had happened…

"God dammit!" I yelled, clutching my head and falling to my knees. Pain pierced my blade, slow and large, digging itself into my head. I shivered for a few moments, focused on nothing except keeping my mouth shut until the pain subsided. I sighed in relief, slowly and cautiously letting my hands fall. Nothing hurt now. But it had started as I tried to remember, that was odd.

Then it hit me, I don't remember anything. What's my name? How do I look? Where am I? What world is this? Country? Do I have friends? Do I have a family? I groaned, suddenly so desperate for answers, but I didn't dare try to remember. Not just yet, I didn't want to go through that pain once again. So instead, I decided to focus on the problem at hand and find water, and began walking to the west, slowly at first, then a bit faster. I should hurry, who knows what could be around here, if I had to face any dangers I'd rather do it after finding water and, maybe, some food. Still, the forest didn't seem dangerous. I hadn't seen any signs of life here, no birds, no little forest creatures, no people either…just how remote is this place? Would anyone find me here? Would I be lost forever, dying or living off whatever I could find? I shuddered, imaging some primal human in a cloth running away with a spear. Hm, thinking about that, what do I have on me? Do I have a weapon? What am I wearing? I paused and looked down at myself. Blue sneakers, black jeans and a black t-shirt. My skin itself was a light brown, not very dark but not white either, and I had nothing useful on me. Judging by my body, and how I felt, I had to be a teenager. 15? 16? 17? Maybe 18? I sighed loudly, feeling completely lost. Who had to wonder what age they were? How could this happen to me?

"Focus on the water, just focus on that water." I muttered to myself, renewing my walk.

I walked for what felt like hours, although the sun didn't move that much, and didn't find a single drop. Could it be the red leaves had fallen on the ponds and were covering them? I sighed and continued walking, my lips cracked and my head pounding. My body felt sluggish, not responding as easily as it should have. I must've been laying there a long time because I was definitely dehydrated. I looked around but, as before, nothing appeared. Just trees, and red leaves, an endless amount of these.

Thunk!

I immediately spun, looking towards my left. I quickly grabbed the first thing I could, a long stick, and pointing it at the trees. But no other sound came. I was about to accept the fact that I had imagined it when I heard it again.

Thunk!

I knew that sound, it happened when you threw something into-

"Water," I whispered, smiling. But I knew I couldn't just run towards it. Something had made that noise. So instead of running in blindly I continued on my path, jogging for a minute or two, before turning left and then turning again. I should be approaching whatever was there from another angle now, and I began making my way towards it. Carefully and quietly, I made it in a couple minutes, observing the place from behind a tree. I was glad to see there was nothing there except a pond. No animals or anything else. I sighed with relief and dashed towards the small pond, taking a moment to see if it was drinkable before dumping my head in. I kept drinking until my legs burned then pulled my head out, gasping for air. Oh, that felt great! I suddenly felt so much more awake. I took a deep breath and dunked my head back in, taking a few more gulps before pulling myself out again to breath. I focused on the water now, for some reason. It was clear, clean, and had a muddy bottom. No fish, or bugs, or anything. I frowned, my eyes focusing on two rocks at the bottom.

"Somebody was here," I muttered to myself. Two rocks, two thunks, it made sense. But someone must've thrown them in. I stood up and looked around, cupping my hands around my mouth. "HELLO?! IS ANYBODY THERE? PLEASE, I'M LOST. I NEED HELP."

I waited a few moments. No answer.

"HELLO! I'M BY THE POND! PLEASE, I REALLY NEED HELP, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, OR WHERE I AM!" I yelled again. This time, I wasn't greeted by silence, I froze as an ear piercing roar sounded throughout the entire forest. I wasn't even curious this time, I just turned around and ran. I ran as fast as I could, changing directions every now and then, unsure of where I was actually going but wanting to get away from that. Whatever had made that noise. I shuddered, replaying it in my head, and didn't stop for god knows how long. Finally, when I was completely lost and in another area, I fell to my hands and knees, gasping for breath.

"What…the hell…was that?" I said between breaths, spitting at my side and standing up. I groaned, feeling like an idiot. Now I was even more lost than before. I was on the incline of a hill, no, a cliff. The trees covered its entire side, but I could see the top. It wasn't that far, maybe this was good. I could get a better view of the area, maybe find help? With this in mind, I smiled lightly and began walking upwards. As I had thought, it didn't take very long, although the incline got pretty steep and forced my to work more. But eventually I made it to the top, and I couldn't help but smile wider. The view was amazing. The trees with red leaves covered every nearly every available space for miles and miles, the only absence of them could be seen in small valleys. The sun was setting, giving everything a glow of sorts, which just made the entire scene better. In the distance, I could barely see, just barely, a wall…

"A wall. Ha ha! A wall!" I yelled, laughing loudly afterward. Someone must've built that wall, there were people there! And a lot of the if they had a wall that big. It was huge, but I couldn't tell much more from this distance. All I had to do was make it there. That wouldn't be too hard, right?

Grrrr.

I froze, slowly and carefully turning around. My heart began to race, and I wouldn't run away if I could've. In front of me was a…wolf? It seemed like a monster wolf, with black fur and evil red eyes, a bone mask and some wicked claws. I gulped, seeing a few others behind it, those of which quickly made a semicircle around me. One of them growled and starting towards me, but the one closest snarled at it. This one must be the leader. It turned back to me and bared its fangs, but I slowly bent down, keeping my eyes on it, and grabbed a rock. This was such a stupid weapon, and I could imagine these things would be laughing at me if they could. The leader inched forward, and I inched back, nearly falling off the cliff now. I focused on its eyes, those red, glowing things…

This must've been the wrong thing to do. It howled and dove for me. I guess I was lucky it wasn't so smart because I rolled to the side and it fell off the cliff. The other monsters looked confused, just staring at the cliff edge. I couldn't blame them. That was stupid, for an animal or a human or anything really. They looked at each other a few seconds and then one gave a weird bark noise, standing forward, then another also did so. The rest stayed back and, much to my surprise, these two started fighting each other. They were slashing and tackling and biting viciously, having no mercy for the other. What the hell was going on?

It's a pack. I realized. The alpha just died, now they need a new one. They're fighting for dominance over the pack.

It's not like this helped me too much, besides the fact that I'd have one less monster to worry about. I couldn't escape, when I quietly tried to slip away one of them stopped me, growling. If this kept up then I'd only have one choice…

The smaller one let out a howl, tackling back into the bigger one and knocking him on his back. He bit into the others neck, tearing out the flesh, and I watched with horror as the thing died and a few moments later disintegrated. Would that happen to me? Would I disappear without a trace? No, I wouldn't allow it. I'd die normally before letting that happen. As if sensing my fear, the new alpha bared its teeth and stepped forward. I threw my rock (which nailed him in the eye) and smiled widely.

"Bye." I spread my arms and closed my eyes, my heart already pounding in fear and excitement. I let myself fall off the cliff.

I still don't know if all that "life flashing before your eyes" thing is real or not, but it didn't happen to me. What was I going to see? I couldn't remember my life. What did happen was that time seemed to slow down, I still felt terrified and sad, but a type of calmness filled my body as well. I was ok with this. It was the choice I had, it is the choice I took. I accepted this. I accepted death.

Ironically enough, the minute I accepted this and time seem to speed up again I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, then everything went black and I felt nauseous. I had the feeling that I was moving too fast, much too fast, and suddenly I hit the ground hard.

"What the…am I dead?" I muttered, shaking my head and opening eyes.

"No, you are not." A voice said, a female voice. I turned my head to see the owner of that voice walking towards me. Long, black hair, eyes that seemed to be in flames, a red dress which left most of her legs bare and complimented her slender figure, and smooth white skin. My heart quite literally stopped, whether from her beauty or my fear I couldn't be sure. Yes, I was afraid. She radiated something that was…wrong. I just watched her stalk toward me, unable to move or react, and then suddenly she kneeled and wrapped her arms around me. "I'm so glad your ok."


	2. Chapter 2: Escaping The Forest

"Who are you?" I asked quietly, my arms slowly wrapping around the woman without my permission. I felt her tense up, and then she pulled back and held me at arm's length. From her point of view, I must've looked dirty, scared, and weak. But she had such a tender, caring look I didn't care. My heart was still racing, and I flinched as she put a hand on my cheek.

"Cerulean, it's me, Cinder." She replied softly. "You know me."

"I-I don't remember anything," I said, gently moving away from her. I don't know why, but I felt fear as I saw this woman. I didn't want her near me.

"Cerulean, what do you mean?" Cinder asked helplessly, hurt in her eyes. "It's me, you must remember."

"I didn't even know my name until just now," I replied. "Cerulean…isn't that a color?"

"Dear Oum…" She muttered, looking away from me. I heard some steps and turned to see two people walking towards us. One was a tall guy dressed nearly all in grey, wearing a smirk as he talked, the other was an emerald haired girl with dark skin and two shotguns in her hands. The moment she saw Cinder she ran towards us.

"What happened?" She asked. "We drove the Grimm away for now. But what's wrong?"

"He…he doesn't know anything." Cinder answered sadly, standing up.

"What does that mean?" The guy asked.

"I can't remember anything at all. Not even my name or age." I explained, standing up. "Who are you?"

"I'm Emerald, and this idiot's Mercury-"

"Hey!"

"-and we're part of your team. Cinder is our leader, we go around helping the Faunus."

"Faunus?"

"That's enough, Emerald." Cinder ordered, her face businesslike. "Explanations can wait; we must leave before the Grimm return."

"What's a Grimm? And Faunus? And why are we a team? How can I belie-"

"Cerulean, I understand your confusion, I truly do, but we must find someplace safe. We can fight the Grimm but we'd rather not wait for them to arrive." Cinder said. Her eyes softened slightly and she leaned forward, giving me a tender peck on the cheek. "I'll explain everything to you once we're safe."

"I…Ok, sure," I replied lamely. "But one last question; How'd you save me from the cliff?"

On cue I felt someone hug my right arm, leaning against me just a bit. I turned to see a little girl, about my age (I think. How old was I?) with chocolate and strawberry colored hair, a cute yet mischievous face, and a fancy get up. She had a parasol in her free hand.

"Meet your savior," Mercury said, sounding a bit bored. "Neo Politan."

The girl, Neo, smiled sweetly at me and (as if to show me how she saved me) disappeared in a flash of pink. She reappeared next to Mercury and gave me a low bow, her eyes glued to mine.

"Show off," Emerald muttered. Neo gave her a wider smile and returned to my side.

Without another word, we all set-out. We walked at a quick pace and, I hated to admit it, but I was having trouble keeping up. Walking all day without food and then some water, running up a cliff and jumping off had really tired me out. Neo must've noticed because she subtly had begun supporting me, putting her arm around my waist and mine around her neck. It looked like a friendly stroll, except for their weapons and serious faces. What were Mercury's, Cinder's and Neo's weapons anyway? I assumed they had some. My question was answered a few moments later when one of those things jumped from the trees. It snarled and bared its fangs, but Mercury just chuckled and walked towards it. Soon both of them were running towards each other. I opened my mouth, about to say something smart like He's gonna die! But before I could he jumped, kicked the beast in the chest. I heard a gunshot and the monster went flying backward, crashing through several trees before lying on the floor, dead. I blinked several times, sure I was hallucinating, but no the thing was disintegrating in front of us. The others continued walking as if this were normal, and I decided to hold any questions I had for later.

"You must feel horrible," Emerald said, slowly down so she'd be next to me and Neo.

"Confused, actually," I told her. "Not every day you wake up without your memories completely wiped."

"Yeah…well, I'm sure you'll remember soon. We'll figure out something." Emerald promised, giving me a confident smile. "We'll be out of here soon. Just stay close and don't do anything stupid."

"You say it as if I won't listen to you," I replied, the edge of my lip curling into a smile.

"You normally don't." She said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "It's great to see you. Mercury won't say much, but he's really glad."

"Thanks." I murmured as I watched her jog back to Mercury.

It didn't take too long for us to arrive at our destination. Apparently, we were heading for a small aircraft parked in a clearing nearby. They said they had other people waiting for us there. And judging from the gunshots that rang in the air, they hadn't been lying. I flinched as a guttural scream pierced the air.

"That doesn't sound good," Mercury exclaimed with a bored voice. He and Emerald shared a nod before dashing off. Neo lets go of me, giving me a wink before disappearing a flash of pink.

"They'll help the men by the ship. Do you need help walking?" She asked.

"As long as nothing attacks me, I'll be fine."

She nodded and once again led the way, walking quicker than before and quieter, using the trees as cover before she kept going. I did my best to follow her example, slightly crouching and picking up the pace, hiding behind trees whenever she did, but I was still making more noise and my legs were beginning to ache more. Still, I was determined to not be a burden right now. I grit my teeth and continued following her, the gunshots and screaming turned louder.

"Left side, left side!"

"Got 'em!"

"Johnny behind you!"

Cinder turned around, grabbing my shoulders. Was it me or were her eyes glowing a bit?

"Stay here, out of the battle. Keep calm, they sense negative emotions. I'll go help them."

"Cinder how can you guys eve-"

"Trust me." She insisted, holding my eyes and smiling a bit. "You always worried too much."

Before I could answer she let go of me and ran forward, into the fray. I sighed, wanting to go help, but the moment I heard one of those things howl the little courage I had left my body and I pressed myself against the tree and decided to wait things out. If they four of them had the skill Mercury briefly showed, and if the others had that too, then this shouldn't be much trouble…right? I waited, and waited, and waited, but the sounds of fighting continued. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and I carefully peeked out from behind the tree. Nothing was in sight so I moved out of my hiding place and quietly began walking towards the sound of battle. Every time I heard a growl too close or even a bullet I'd hide behind a tree for a few moments then continue. The aching in my legs and the fatigue I had felt earlier were long gone now, probably due to my sudden adrenaline. After seeing the monsters and jumping off the cliff I was very aware that I could die, but now it felt a bit…different. I was still afraid, but also more courageous. I had accepted death earlier, I had willingly stepped off the cliff and running towards certain danger couldn't compare to that. It didn't scare me nearly as much now.

I was torn away from those thoughts as I heard someone yell out in anger, then the pained yelp of one of the monsters. I dashed in that direction and suddenly broke out of the forest and into a clear patch of ground. There was a grey aircraft, a plane of sorts, in the center and around it were men in white, sleeveless shirts with rifles and swords. Remember what I said about having less fear? Well, that turned out to not be as true as I thought. Dominating the group of monsters and wreaking havoc on the men were two big, bear-like monsters. Red eyes, black fur and bony armor on their faces, they seemed to absorb the bullets of the men and it was all they could do to keep them from destroying the plane. I heard quick footsteps to my left and turned to see Mercury running at me with an angry face. I instinctively backed up, then raised my arms in an attempted to stop him. He jumped, foot extended, and I crouched with my hands covering my head. But the blow never came. I felt him go over me and heard a gunshot. When I finally looked up I saw him standing over the dead corpse of one of the wolves. I gulped, shocked that I hadn't even heard the thing sneaking up on me.

"What are you doing here?" Mercury asked calmly. "You know what, I don't care. Stay out of the way, kid." And with that, he ran back where he came from. I watched him run off and then turned my head back to the monster next to me.

It wasn't moving, and the red dim in its eyes had died down. I looked at the fight, then around me, and now certain that I was relatively alone I examined the body. It was twice my size, small compared to some of the other, and it's teeth and claws seemed deadly sharp. But there was no blood? Just red where the wound was. I frowned and looked over the body for blood or something that'd be inside it. All animals had blood, or something fluid in their body, right? Wrong.

I yelped and stumbled backward as black must began to rise. It was coming out of the body and soon enough the entire thing had disappeared into it, floating into the air until even that black mist itself disappeared. I just stared at the now empty air with my mouth open, unable to understand what had happened.

Suddenly I heard a female voice cry out in pain. I immediately spun around just in time to see Cinder fly into a tree, dropping the two swords. Wait, where had she gotten those?

"Cinder" Emerald yelled out, now in view. But she couldn't go to her partner's aid, right now dodging and countering the attacks of at least five of those things. I looked around for Mercury and saw him in a similar situation, spinning and jumping around as he hammered his enemies with kicks.

My eyes focused on one of the bear monsters who was making its way towards Cinder, the one that had hit her. I glanced at her but she wasn't getting up. Why wasn't she getting up? I looked around for someone, something, and suddenly a rifle slid to my feet. I looked up to see one of the men on the ground, quite literally wrestling with one of the beasts. His rifle must've fallen out of his hands. After a few moments of hesitation, I cursed and picked it up. I looked it over and then crouched down, raising it and taking a deep breath. I closed one eye and looked through the iron sights with the other. I took a deep breath and pulled the trigger…and my gun suddenly went up and made my fall back.

"Gah, recoil!" I said, crouching again and pressing the butt to my shoulder. I took aim and quickly fired. This time, my burst of bullets hit it in the head. The best roared and turned to me, getting on all fours.

"You might want to run!" Mercury yelled, jumping high into the air before landing next to Emerald.

"Shit," I muttered, firing another burst before standing up. The beast charged me and I barely managed to roll to the side, turning and peppering its side with bullets.

Click…click…click.

"Oh come on!" I complained, pulling the trigger a few more times. It was empty! I looked up at the monster that had turned to face me once again. It barreled towards me again and this time when I tried to roll it easily turned, tackling me. I grunted as the air was knocked out of my lung and I was sent several feet away, rolling over my own body.

"Neo!" I heard someone yell. But I couldn't focus on that. I tried to get to my feet and fell to a knee, sharp pain manifesting where my ribs should be. I must've have broken a few. I looked around and grabbed a rifle from a dead body right next to me, falling my butt as the beast made its way to me. It got on two feet, raising its massive claws.

"Go to hell," I muttered, pulling the trigger. The beast roared and I yelled at the top of my lungs in anger, peppering its chest with bullet holes. I continued yelling until my gun was empty and then stared at the beast as I waited for it to kill me. I stared it right in the red eyes…and then watched in surprise as it fell backward onto the ground, dead. I looked up at the person standing next to it with a small sword, smiling at me a bit creepily. "Neo." I murmured. She walked over to me and offered me a hand.

"Hurry up and get in!" One of the men yelled. With a start, I realized there was no more fighting. The monsters lay dead all around us. I saw Emerald helping Cinder to the aircraft and Mercury close by carrying her weapons. My eyes turned back to Neo and she gave me a small nod.

I took her hand.


	3. Chapter 3: What is Aura?

I groaned in pain, letting myself fall to the ground this time. Any more of this and I was going to die, ok not _literally_ but that's how it felt like.

"Come on kid, get up," Mercury said good-naturedly. I looked up see him brushing invisible dust off his shoulders.

"Screw you!" I answered, letting my head fall down again. My entire body was beaten and bruised. I was done for today, yet he didn't have a scratch on him.

"Seriously, there's no way you're already done. I've been hitting softly," He answered with an annoyed voice. "Get up."

"Softly? My entire body is bruised and bashed, you sent me into a wall!" I protested, sitting up with another groan. "I can't even breath without it hurting right now."

"That shouldn't be possible, either you have the weakest aura I've ever seen or you're a Grimm." He said, crossing his arms. But I just stared at him with confusion. I remembered plenty of terms. Maybe I forgot m life, but I knew what things were, yet aura didn't ring any bells…

"The hell's aura?" I asked, propping myself on the metal wall of the large warehouse as I stood up. "I think Emerald mentioned it once, but I didn't get the chance to ask."

Mercury looked extremely surprised, and instead of answering he simply exited the room. I didn't complain, glad for the extra rest time. Mercury had been trying to train me for two weeks now and, although I'm already in better physical shape than before, my combat skills were still lacking. Every day I left with more and more bruises, until today when I couldn't really do anything except fall down. Emerald had taken turns with him, but I ended up with Mercury more. His fighting style was pure kicks, which was really interesting. Normally we trained deep inside the warehouse, in a large room that was mostly empty. The warehouse itself wasn't much different from the room, except that it was filled with men and woman working nearly full time, filled with crates that had this thing called "dust", weapons and more. Cinder still hadn't explained that to me.

Cinder…I was unsure what I thought of her. She had proven to be much more of a leader than I thought at first, definitely the one who was in charge here. She told me that most of these people were not exactly human, they were _Faunus._ Animal people. I was a bit…horrified at first by the thought, and most of the people here seemed to dislike me but more than enough were willing to show me their Faunus traits and explain their history. I ended up liking them a lot, and thought they were pretty cool. I mean they could see in the dark and had cute kitty ears! Well, some had antlers too. But they were like anyone else with a couple cool additions, nothing was wrong with them.

 _Anyway,_ after she had explained that, what dust was and a few other things, she explained what her little group was doing here. The Faunus were treated very, very badly in the four kingdoms that existed, the exception being Vacuo, and they were finally making a stand. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but I did agree that they should be treated equally. Either way, I wasn't doing anything to help them, I was just here with Cinder, Mercury, Emerald and Neo. It didn't take long for them to offer training me, which I gladly accepted. I wasn't going to live any longer fearing those monsters I had seen in the forest, and maybe I could protect others from them as well…

"Cerulean," Cinder said, now in the room. I hadn't even noticed her walk in.

"Hi, Cinder," I said with a small smile. "Your turn to beat the crap out of me?"

"Of course not," She replied with a smirk and a shake of her head. "Mercury told me you don't know what aura is?" I gave her a nod. "It was foolish of him to not notice yours wasn't activated, but he never received proper education, he wouldn't have known."

"You lost me," I murmured, raising an eyebrow.

"Aura, Cerulean, is in every single living being. Animals, humans, faunus, even bugs and such. We can unlock our aura through certain feats…or have them unlocked."

"Ok, I think I get it. But what is aura exactly?" I asked, interested.

"Aura is the manifestation of our soul, it bares our burdens and shields our hearts. With practice, our aura can be our shield," She explained, walking closer to me.

"Do the monsters have aura?" I blurted, my mind suddenly worried about that. That'd just make them worse than I thought.

"No, don't worry," Cinder answered with a chuckle. "The monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity." She gently cupped my chin in one hand, staring me straight in the eyes. Unlike last time, where I was afraid of her, I actually calmed down. I felt soothed. "They are the darkness, and we are the light. Understanding both of these, dark and light, helps us manifest our aura. Everyone has both. By baring your soul outward as a force you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for aura, you project yourself and your soul while fighting."

"So…it's like a force field of sorts?" I asked slowly, my gaze focused on her. She smiled and gave me a nod.

"But yours was never unlocked…which is odd. Close your eyes and concentrate," Her smile disappeared, and I recognized this change. It was her work face. What was she going to do? I did as she said and closed my eyes. Her hand shifted from my chin to the side of my head. Suddenly, I could hear her in my head.

 _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee._

Immediately everything seemed to light up, even though my eyes were closed, and my body felt huge relief. The pain of the bruises and other injuries disappeared, I felt lighter on my feet, and more firmly planted on the ground. I let out a content sigh, and felt Cinder's forehead connect with my own.

"I used my energy to unlock yours, but now the energy that protects you is your own. Starting tomorrow Emerald will train you in aura usage," She whispered, sounding just a bit tired.

"Thank you, Cinder," I said. "For everything." I opened my eyes and found her staring right at me with a smile. My face suddenly felt very hot, and I noticed that she was still extremely close, and that her hand and forehead were still touching me. After a few moments she gave me a peck on the cheek and exited the room, leaving me alone.

I had been thinking a lot of what to do, and my only choice seemed to stay with them for now. At least, until I could remember something, but…maybe that wasn't so bad after all. Training, friends, and helping the faunus…

The best way to begin that, to start helping, was to learn more. Cinder had mentioned Emerald knew of aura, and I doubt she'd be doing anything right now so I had to find and, hopefully, we could start. I entered the main part of the of the warehouse, which was busy as always, and made my way to a couple faunus I knew were ok with me. One was a deer faunus, a pretty lady with antlers. She smiled as she saw me approach and the two of them set down a crate.

"Hey Ceru, what's up?" She asked in a friendly way.

"My spirits, for once," I answered jokingly. "How are you two? Don't you ever get a break?"

"Revolution takes no breaks," The other one, a man with donkey ears, reminded me.

"You looking for Emerald?" She asked, wiping her hands. "I saw Mercury and Cinder were with you before, and I doubt you'll be looking for the midget. Emerald's outside, by the forest."

"She isn't too far, is she? I can't really defend myself yet," I admitted sheepishly.

"Nah, she's inside our perimeter. You should be fine, but be careful either way," She said, and with that the two of them grabbed the crate a continued their work.

So she was outside…I hadn't been outside at all in the last two weeks. All I knew is that we were in a regular forest, not the one with red leaves, and we were a few hours away from the nearest kingdom. It was dangerous due to the Grimm out here, but necessary to stay hidden. Still, I should be fine going out…

"And if anything, Emerald's there to help me, probably," I said to myself. Without another word I made my way to the exit. The sun hurt my eyes for a few moments, but then I was fine. And _man_ it actually felt really good to be back out after these couple weeks of being cooped up. The breeze was cool against my skin, the air felt fresh, and there was much more silence than inside. I took a deep breath and then began jogging through the forest, keeping an eye out for Emerald. My friend had said she was in front of the base, and inside the perimeter, so it shouldn't be hard to find it. My feet crunched on top of the leaves as I jogged, and I was wondering what season we were in (probably fall) when suddenly I felt pressure on my left ankle, and yelped as something pulled me upwards. When I finally got oriented I noticed I was hanging upside down. I shook my head a few times and, now more focused, I saw Emerald in front of me, smirking. She was holding onto the hilt of her weapon, which had a chain sprouting from it. I looked up to see the chain hanging over a thick branch, the end of it tied across my ankle.

"Ha ha, very funny," I said. "Let me down."

"Only after you explain why you're outside, you know you're not allowed here. It's dangerous," She scolded, although she didn't sound that serious.

"I know we're inside the perimeter, first of all, and second of all I was looking for you," I replied, feeling a bit annoyed. "Cinder unlocked my aura today, and she told me she'd arrange for you to help me out but since neither of us had anything to do I came now."

"So she finally unlocked it, I was wondering when Mercury would notice you didn't have it activated," Emerald muttered. Suddenly I fell to the ground, landing on my side. I stood up and glared at her, but a bullet whizzed past my ear, stopping me cold. "So, the first thing you need to learn is how to use aura to defend yourself. You can stop anything, bullets, swords, hammers, if you learn this. And something tells me you'll need it."

"Please tell me you're not going to shoot me," I begged. "I'll die instead of learning anything."

"Try to focus the aura where you want it to go, like your hands, and stop the bullets," Emerald answered, smiling and firing her weapons.

/

 **Weiss's POV**

"Ruby, please, we've been out too long. Yang will worry," I pleaded, grabbing my friends shoulder. Ruby shrugged me off, hanging up another flyer.

"We can't just give up, Weiss!" The huntress complained, looking somewhat irritated. That was quite unlike her.

"He wouldn't want us to get hurt just for the sake of finding him," I reasoned, speaking gently. He had been close to all of us before disappearing, even if we only knew him for a year, but I think Ruby was taking his disappearance worse than the rest of us. I might her best friend, but he was close to her in different ways. He was her age, he seemed to understand her and even act a bit more like her, they turned into friends faster than we did. Granted, I had been _difficult._

"If one of us had disappeared, Cerulean wouldn't had even slept until he found us," Ruby argued, walking down the sidewalk, the stack of flyers still in her hands. I sighed, looking at the paper she just hung up. It had a picture of him smiling widely, rubbing the back of his head. This had been taken the first day he joined our team, our extra partner. At the moment I thought it was an inconvenience, but he had done well with us…

"You better be safe, you dolt," I muttered to the picture. "Or Yang will kill you, and I'll help her."

A smiled at the thought and jogged to catch up to Ruby. It was odd to see her in such a serious mood, but after losing Torchwick and that new girl, Neo, today at the highway she had been a bit down. Personally I thought we did great, we destroyed the militaries greatest weapon without any serious injuries. But they _did_ escape. Yang and Blake had stayed at Beacon, knowing nothing would stop Ruby. But I couldn't let the dolt go alone! The streets were dangerous these days-

"Weiss, you're doing that again," Ruby said happily. My face turned pink as my mind returned to the present. "You're worrying that much? I thought you said he'd be-"

"I wasn't think about him," I interrupted huffing. "Now let's go home, it's too late."

And with that I grabbed her wrist, half dragging her along with me back to Beacon. We'd find him, I knew we would. But in the meantime I would take care for my remaining teammates.

They were too important.


	4. Chapter 4: Pieces Of My Past

"How long have we been here?" I asked, panting heavily. The sun out here, behind the base, was beating down on us harshly. I was wearing shorts and had taken off my shirt, sweating quite a bit. Emerald, who had been nice enough to allow a break, was next to me.

"Just a few hours, and we still have more to go," She answered, laughing as I groaned. She had decided to get me familiar with the Grimm, and the area, by taking me hiking. Every now and then we'd rest and practice, a few times when the Grimm attacked us she took care of it while I watched. "But I think you'll like this part."

"I want a bed not more hiking," I said half-heartedly. In all honesty, anything that would make me stronger was good, so I made sure not to complain…too much. My previous fatigue disappeared and was replaced with excitement. In her hands she held to sword hilts, they had no blades. But I got a familiar feeling from them…

"These were your weapons, from before. You made them," Emerald explained. "Most people train at a school, make their weapons there too, and then move to one of the big schools for hunters and huntresses like Beacon, Haven, and so on. You never made it to one of the big schools, but you did practice a bit with these. Try them out."

A ton of questions surged forward, but I kept silent and grabbed the hilts. They did feel familiar and were definitely fit for me. My fingers caressed the side and I felt small buttons. A smiled and pressed them, a yelp leaving my mouth as two blades suddenly popped out of the hilt. Emerald chuckled but I ignored her, admiring the weapons. They were gleaming silver in the sunlight, light, almost like a samurai sword but shorter and a bit straighter. I frowned as I felt a couple more buttons, raising my weapons to inspect them.

"Wait don't press-"

Too late, I pressed them and heard a pair of the gunshots. The next thing I knew, I was flung through the air and hit the branch of a tree, falling down on my stomach. I groaned and she walked over to me, shaking her head and sighing.

"Your swords use wind dust to help you move around faster and strengthen your hits, until you remember how to do regular sword fighting I don't think you should mess with that," My turquoise companion said, offering me a hand. I took it and stood up.

"Is that why you brought me here?" I asked, spinning the blades in my hands once. They felt so familiar yet I couldn't remember anything. It gave me a tremendous feeling of anxiety. I should remember. Emerald must've sensed this because she forced my eyes to hers and smiled.

"Exactly, you've been wanting to kill some Grimm, right? You're in better shape now, and I want to see how much your body remembers about fighting. Maybe it'll come back through instinct," She said kindly. "Now let's go, the last one to the top of the hill has to entertain Neo today."

I had very little interactions with Neo, and normally if we were together she'd be very reserved, but I had heard enough from everyone else to know I didn't want to be alone with her. I doubt she'd actually hurt me, but she sounded a bit too scary for me. Before Emerald could finish I dashed up the hill, but halfway there I felt something wrap around my leg and pull me down. Emerald dashed past me and a few moments later I scrambled up and met her. But as I arrived I could tell playtime was over. Her face was serious and she gripped both her weapons, looking below. I followed her gaze down the steep incline and saw why she was so serious. An entire pack of Beowolves was prowling about and it didn't look like they spotted us yet.

"Well, the best teacher is experience," Emerald said. "Good luck."

"What do you mean-"

I let out a nasty curse as her she kicked me down the hill. I managed to sheath my blades as I rolled down, yelling out and cursing as I did so and trying in vain to gain footing. I was moving too fast and it was too steep. When I finally stopped rolling and sat up, I froze. The entire pack was around me.

/

Cinder's POV

"He's already come a long way," I murmured, crossing my arms as I watched him fight. Emerald stood next to me on the hill, observing him as well.

"He has, I guess training every day with Mercury was a good idea," She answered quietly. "But I don't think he's useful."

"Oh? Why not?" I asked, turning to face her. She immediately assumed a more authorities posture, as she always did in front of me. Her back straightened, her eyes turned sharp, and her voice was clearer. It was how she tried to impress me, I believe.

"He's still a lot like his teammates, happy and positive, always wanting to do the good thing. He's only with us because he thinks we're helping the Faunus," She said, her gaze returning down to him. "Once he realizes that isn't the actual truth, well, he'll do something about it. And he won't be able to do any jobs, like robbing dust."

"So much doubt, Emerald," I purred, taking a step toward her. As hoped, her ears took pink and she shifted uncomfortably. Her eyes were very tempted to look other places. I had been surprised by this at first, but it had its uses. Seduction was a powerful tool. "He will do those things because he believes they are for the greater good."

"What makes you think he believes in the greater good?" She asked quietly. I gently cupped her chin in one hand, leaning closer as to whisper.

"Because I know him, and I know how to use him."

/

Cerulean's POV

"Emerald!" I yelled, flipping backward as another wolf charged. I wildly slashed left, hearing it yelp in pain, but that wasn't a killing blow. I clenched my teeth and turned to it, blasting towards it and in one second slashing its head off. That surprised me, but what surprised me more is how my body spun on instinct so I landed on me feet, facing the other enemies. I looked at my blades in awe, then smiled. This was something I could get used to. I took a deep breath and let my thoughts drift, letting my instincts take over. The rest charged and I ran to meet them, blasting myself up and over. I landed on top of one, hard enough to kill him, then turned around and spun my blades. Hilts now aimed at the beasts I planted my feet firmly on the ground and let a few rounds go. Three of the monsters were blasted away, but the rest recovered quickly. I ducked under one claw, side-stepped a second and cut off a third. In a quick series of slashes and stabs I left the three dead on the floor. I had no idea where I got this skill from, but I loved it. I may have laughed, but I wasn't sure and I charged the other Beowolves eagerly. One of them howled, and the rest charged but it wasn't difficult. I blasted myself back and forth, dodging and slashing at the Grimm, completely confident in my abilities. Before I knew it they were all dead, and I was in the middle of the dead pack, panting heavily. I laughed and stood up, looking around for anything else to end. But looks like I had gotten them all-

"ROOOAR"

I stiffened and slowly turned around, my eyes meeting the bright red ones of a huge, heavily armored Beowulf. I gulped, my smile failing. It roared again and swiped at me but I blasted myself backward, out of its reach. I saw it lick its teeth, but instead of charging its claws dug into the ground.

"What the hell…?" I murmured. Suddenly it pulled a chunk of the earth out and hurled it towards me. I yelped and dove to the side, avoiding it, but he kept throwing. I rolled backward to avoid the second and jumped over the third. He lifted a fourth and I blasted myself towards him, breaking through the large chunk of earth and crashing into the monster. We both tumbled to the ground but he got up first and grabbed me, quite literally smashing me into the ground. He raised me again but a blasted him in the face and he stumbled back, dropping me. Before it could recover I blasted myself upwards, high into the air, and then back down at a great speed. My swords sliced through its side, and it howled in pain. It roared and raised both its claws, and I raised my blades in response-

But the blow never came. I frowned as its arms fell limp, and then it fell to the ground with a thud. It slowly began to disappear into black mist.

"What the-" I was interrupted but a tap on my back, and spun around immediately with my blades raised. Neo raised an eyebrow, looking quite annoyed, and used one finger to lower the blades.

"You were the last one up, so now you get to entertain her. And by entertain I mean train," Emerald said behind me. I jumped, startled, and glared at her. She chuckled and raised her hands. "Good job with the Beowolves, you seemed like an expert with those swords."

"Yeah, it just came to me. I've definitely used these before," I answered, wiping my brow. "It's nice to have something I remember, in a way. I wonder where I learned this."

"I don't know much about your childhood, but if you lived outside the walls it makes sense you'd know how to fight. And if you lived in the walls maybe you went to a combat school," Emerald said thoughtfully. "You'll remember eventually, I'm sure."

"What do you know about me?" I asked quietly. I don't know why I didn't ask before, probably because I was too busy training to think about it, but now that I had my brain began to race. What kingdom was I from? Who were my parents? Did I have any other friends? How had I met these people?

"You should ask Cinder," Emerald said with a smile. "She should be the one to tell you about us."

"Aw, why?" I complained. I felt Neo slide her arms around mine.

"Because you're going to be busy," Emerald answered. "Have fun!"

Before I could complain again, or even speak, the world turned black around me, reappearing a moment later. But now I felt completely disoriented. The sky was now dark, peppered with millions of stars and a huge, shattered moon. The air was cold, very cold, and the floor was freezing beneath me. I noticed there were buildings around us, plenty of them before I stumbled back. Neo caught me and held me, patiently waiting for me to shake it off. She was quite strong for her size.

"Please, never teleport without warning me again," I murmured, shaking my head a few times. I felt motion sick. "Where are we?" As always, she didn't say a word. Instead, she just smiled and indicated the city with one hand. I turned back to it and, this time more focused, felt awed. The city seemed huge, even from here, and obviously modern. Every part of it screamed modern technology. The sidewalks glowed a light red, and people were walking on them without looking the least bit cold. Several stores and buildings had this light red, either in decorations or the buildings themselves. Dust, I realized. They were using dust with machines to keep themselves warm in this environment. The second thing I noticed was the soldiers. They were walking in pairs among the people, apparently patrolling. They had…some odd rifles, and silver helmets.

"If I had to guess," I began, "this place is militaristic and technological. Probably rich if they can afford it too." Neo's smile told me I was right. Once again she wrapped her arms around me and began to walk, leading me through the sidewalks. I made sure to sheath my blades, thankfully, because that probably would've gotten us in trouble. Luckily, the only attention we got were odd looks from the soldiers. This didn't seem to bother my small companion, as she continued walking among the people without giving them a glance. "Where are we going?" I asked quietly. Something felt wrong her, dangerous. I felt like I was under observation…

"Mmm!" Neo shook my arm a bit, trying to get my attention. I snapped my head to her and she nodded at the building next to me. A sign above the door read "John's Dust Emporium". I frowned as she led me inside, but didn't resist. The store itself was only the first floor of the tall building, and it wasn't very large. The walls were lined with colorful tubes, the display cases scattered here and there were filled with crystals, and the shelves had simple things like magazines, and then things like knives and swords up for display.

"Welcome! What can I help you with?" A friendly voice called. I just now noticed the middle-aged man behind the counter, a few meters in front of us. He was wearing an elegant white suit, his blue eyes scanned us (particularly Neo) for a few moments, and his hands passed through his dark, yet neatly combed hair. He waited a few seconds before raising an eyebrow, and I noticed Neo wasn't going to speak.

"Uh…just browsing, I think," I answered. He gave us a hesitant nod before turning his attention to a holographic tablet. Neo let go of me and walked towards him, apparently looking at the crystals. I slowly began walking through the store, not doing much else than browse through the weapons magazine. As far as I could tell, the guys back at the warehouse had more dust than they knew how to use, meaning they could spare some for Neo. So why would she come to a dust shop, and more importantly, why would she bring me? I was looking through a magazine as the bell above the door rung violently. Then it rung twice more. I turned to see five soldiers at the doorway, guns ready.

"Hands in the air!"

 **/ I was reading the reviews once more before posting this and, i really have to say, thank you guys so much! It's not like there's so many to swoom about, but normally I don't get reviews that point out what i did good, or nice ideas, so it's great to see! Hope you enjoyed this chapter~**


	5. Chapter 5: Friends in Atlas

"Calm down," I said carefully, raising my hands. "What's going on?"

"Where is she?" One asked. They must've meant Neo. I looked around and didn't see her, maybe she was hiding?

"Um, who's she?" I asked dumbly, scratching the back of my head. This movement immediately made them tense up, steadying their aim.

"Cut the crap, we saw you walk in here with her, now tell us where she is and it'll be better for you at court."

"What? You can't take me to court! I haven't done anything!" I complained, lowering my arms. "I must have rights, right?"

"Atlas citizens have rights, you are not a known Atlas citizen," The leader corrected, grinning. "Now tell us where she is and come with us."

"Bet he's with the White Fang," A blue murmured to his partner.

"One of those animals? I'll shoot him now," Was the answer.

"Maybe he'll know where one of the hideouts is," The third chirped. Seriously, did they think I was deaf? I heard everything. And I had heard enough. These were the enemies that Cinder had told me about, people that abused power and the law, racists who discriminated for no reasons. I couldn't let them arrest me.

The leader frowned, slowly lowering his hand to his sidearm. I did the same, hands hovering above my sword hilts. The other three went silent and serious, weapons ready. It was like a standoff, but they were four and I was one. Neither of us faltered, just staring and waiting. The tension was getting thick, no sounds except the ticking of a clock, and I felt strangely calm. Had I been in situations like this before? I took a deep breath, and everything around me faded away.

 _Tick._

 _Tock._

 _Tick._

 _Tock._

The soldier grabbed his weapon and aimed it at me in less than a second, pulling the trigger. But I was faster, my blades extended and I deflected the bullet. He fired again, and again, I deflected both shots easily and glared at him. He clenched his teeth, glancing at his partners.

"Well? Shoot him!"

I yelped as the four soldiers opened fire, bolts of plasma flying to me. I blasted myself to the side of the store, crouching behind some shelves. They wildly fired through the shelf and I rolled out of the way, feeling the projectiles miss me by an inch. I laid down, letting them fire, and fire, and fire. Soon enough the firing stop.

"Did we get him?" One whispered. I smiled and let one arm fall into view, limp.

"Good work," The leader said, and I heard him holster his gun. "Examine the body for anything related to the Fang, you two check the backrooms for the girls, and I'll get in touch with the officials and Ironwood. He'll want to hear about this."

Ironwood? Who was that? Odds are Cinder would know of him, but I'd have to remember the name just in case. I snapped out of my thoughts as the soldiers came into view, looking down on me. One of them nudged me with his foot and frowned.

"He doesn't look injured," He murmured, gun raising ever so slightly.

I smiled and blasted myself upwards, feet hitting the roof and pushing me down onto the guy. He yelled out and fired a random shot, but I stabbed the gun onto the ground with one sword and punched him the face, quick and swift, to knock him out. The second one cursed and, already aiming, I deflected one shot with the spinning of my sword, but it's kind of hard to stop plasma. I stumbled back and growled, going around the bookshelf as he continued firing. I could hear his partners stumbling through the backrooms, hearing the shots. No more time to be careful, I vaulted over the shelf and landed behind him, kicking him behind the knees and then blasting him forward and out the window as he began to fall. I spun to see the other two blues and blasting myself towards them, taking both out in a quick series of kicks and slashes. I had just kicked the other one through the opposite wall when the leader walked into the room, pistol out. He took a look around at his fallen partners, and then bolted towards the door. I cursed and was about to chase him, when the door suddenly opened and smacked him harshly. He raised his weapon without looking and fired, but it deflected off a parasol, and then in a quick flash of pink he was thrown outside, and Neo was smiling smugly at me from the doorway.

"Why did you bring me to enemy territory?!" I practically snarled, storming over to her. She rolled her eyes, offering me her hand gracefully. I snorted, crossing my arms. "I'm not going anywhere else with you. Probably going to teleport us to a military base next…" As soon as I finished sirens started blaring and lights flashed outside. Neo smirked, hand still extended. She knew I couldn't just stay. And _Oum_ was that smirk annoying. I huffed and sheathed my swords, taking her hand. "Back to the warehouse, or I'll end up finding my own way there."

Her smirk grew into a smile, and in a flash of pink we were gone.

/

 **Cinder's POV**

"He's proven to be very skilled," I said, replaying the video feed. "Neo did an…interesting job at testing him."

"Now Atlas is panicking, thinking we've somehow infiltrated them," A male voice said, chuckling. "They're fools."

"Indeed," I agreed, staring intently at the video. Cerulean showed great ability with those weapons, much better than during practice. As I assumed, his body remembered what he could not. "Roman is going to begin another string of robberies, and I think we should put dear Cerulean to use."

"Will he manage? He isn't very big on crime."

"He will if he has motivation," I murmured with a smile. "I want you to present yourself tomorrow, show him exactly how much the Faunus the suffering. He already wants to help, he sees how Faunus here have suffered, it will be your job to bring him over the line, turn him into one of you. Then he will do what we ask of him, because it is for the greater good." He walked in view, a wide grin on his face. Red hair, white mask, black clothing and a sword. Adam Taurus took another step closer before speaking.

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then kill him," I answered.

 **/ Oddly enough, I wasn't planning to upload today. I didn't notice I had this chapter made and prepped already, which is stupid of me. A bit shorter than usual I know, but this is the one this time!**


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